To perform the FF/REW of magnetic tape by the fullloading method in a VTR, with the magnetic tape wrapped around the cylinder which has a magnetic head mounted on it, the reel mounts supporting the tape are driven at high speed, while the standard-speed drive system having capstans and pinch rollers is held in released condition. More precisely, as is shown in FIG. 1, the tape 2 fed supplied from a supply (S) reel mount 1 is wrapped about half around the cylinder 3, as it is transferred at the standard speed during the playback/recording (PLAY/REC) operation. The tape 2 is guided by an audiocontrol erase (ACE) head 4 and a capstan 5 and is taken up around a take-up (T) reel mount 6. The ACE head 4 detects control pulses, and index search is carried out. The winding or fast-forward transfer of the tape 2 is performed by the S reel mount 1 or the T reel mount 6 being rotated by a idler 8 which in turn is rotated by a reel motor 7. If the end portion of the tape 2 is transferred at high speed, the tape 2 will be removed from the reel due to the time-lag between the detecting of the tape end and the braking of the reel mount. Therefore, the voltage applied on the reel motor 7 is controlled to reduce the speed of the motor 7, thus decreasing the speed of the tape 2. When a clutch-less reel-driving mechanism is employed, this mechanism must perform, with high reliability, both the PLAY/REC operation which is a low-speed operation, and the FF/REW operation, which requires great torque.
When the clutch-less reel-driving mechanism that transfers the tape 2 performs both the low-speed PLAY/REC operation and the high-speed, large-load FF/REW operation, the reel motor 7 must provide a large starting torque. Further, the reel motor 7 must have a long lifetime despite the great load applied on it, and it must be able to rotate stably even at a low speed. These requirements greatly increase cast. When the tape 2 is has been damaged, the load applied during the FF/REW operation is, in some cases, so large that the tape 2 can no longer be taken up. Numeral 9 designates a capstan motor, and numeral 20 denotes a pinch roller. The pinch roller 20 is out of contact with the capstan 5 during the FF/REW operation.